Lavender Friends June 25, 2007

 

 

Lavender is one of my favorite easy plants to grow. This particular plant is about 3 years old and has survived my complete lack of attention to it – perhaps why it is so happy. In the spring and summer, it makes so many flower spikes that smell so yummy! The bees are buzzing around, dragonflies and damselflies visit – it’s nice to just go stand and watch the activity while soaking up the scent.

 

Sadly, this is a plant that is not making the move with us. It will stay in my garden here and I hope that whomever lives in this little house next will appreciate my purple friend. In the mean time, I hope to make a few mementos of my garden by making lavender wands. They should make the car smell wonderful during the 14 hour drive to Alabama. Hopefully, lavender grows in Alabama too…

 

 

Recently, my friends and I met for one of our stitchy knit/crochet meetings at our local hangout. These are good friends that I met through the group (for the most-part) and whom I have been hanging out with for several years now. They have been with me through many tough times and many happy times and I will miss them when I leave. Like my lavender, this group of people I can’t take with me, though I can take the pictures and yarn and memories… And, I will hopefully find a new group of ladies who have an addiction to yarn and a love of life and beer.

 

What will I miss about this place I have called home? My lavender and my friends, among other things. Both of which I can find new ones of in my new town – neither of which I can replace.

Farm House June 20, 2007

So, the most wonderful and amazing friend that I haven’t yet met, who lives in Auburn AL, sent me pictures of my new house!  The most I had been able to see prior to this morning were pictures off of Google Earth…

Ms. Julie sent real pictures, and did it without my even asking.  She has to win the award for person going above and beyond the call of duty for a complete stranger…

It’s a farm house, about 6 miles away from town, and it is MUCH bigger than the house that I currently live in.  I don’t know how much bigger, but it is bigger.  (It is possible, though difficult, to find a house smaller than my current house, though not one with 3 bedrooms.)

I am excited!   I can feel myself stretching out into all of the wondrous SPACE!  I can be alone in a room and still have the hubby be in the house at the same time!  More importantly, the litter box will not be in the bedroom and we will have laundry machines!  Hmm… wonder where I’m going to put the clothesline?

We will have to build a dog fence still, and who knows where that will go, hopefully including one of the trees near the barn but also connected to the house some way.

Now, at least, I am able to dream more accurately about my future, which is  a mere 9 days away…  I will stay positive and happy about this all… even while I miss all of you here…  But, think of it this way, now I have enough space for a sleepover with my Texas friends!

Shirt Bag Teaser

 

Turn this great shirt into…

 

 

 

 

 

SO – This is my most recent creative venture – my shirt bag. Made out of entirely recycled materials, all purchased at either garage sales or thrift stores, for a total price of maybe $4, this bag is a fun weekend project! It does require a few sewing skills and is a bit time consuming in its construction, but is loads of fun in the end!

 

As a functional piece of found object art, it makes the best use of easily had materials. And, most importantly, using found items like old clothes is an environmentally smart thing to do. Check out this link where there was a study done to show just how much energy is saved in the manufacturing and delivery of new verses used clothes! Just amazing! So, not only are used clothes cheaper to buy, but they’re lower on the energy food chain, too. Not to mention, garage sale clothes shopping can be loads of fun – I have many Gap shirts that I’ve bought for a $1 at sales… beats spending my pennies at the mall!

 

While out and about in the crafty world in my current town, a few local crafsters have approached me about this bag. They want the pattern! Who’d a guessed? Most recently, at our local stitchy club meeting last night, a random lady asked me if I’d made this bag and if there were directions to it. I originally thought that my friends had put you up to this, but now know that you are just that cool as to ask me all on your own!

 

So, yes, directions/tutorial are in the works, hopefully next week. (And, if you who asked about the bag at the stitchy club are reading this, and want to join our local stitchy group, please send me an email…) After the packing is over and I am stuck in an empty house with nary a piece of fabric to stitch, I will post the tutorial. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

Home Sweet Home Alabama June 8, 2007

I have a small confession to make. I do not love Texas. I know, it is a shock to many of you, but it is true.

I have found love and loved others in Texas, married in Texas and love my in-laws who will forever reside in Texas. I love many parts of Texas, but I am not in love with Texas. It’s a love worthy state, but doesn’t quite fit who I am or who I want to become.

To many Texans, this is blasphemy – and I think it is hard for a person who does love something to understand those of us who only tolerate the same thing. Many people that I’ve met while living here have never left the state. Admittedly, it is a very large state and is diverse in its landscape and people to where one might think that all they truly need or want resides within its borders. But still, to me, it is hard to definitively state true love if one has nothing to compare it to.

 

My sister once felt this way about a small cow town she used to live in right out of college. It was a nice town, she had a good job, it was close to family – why leave? After a while of bugging her, I told her that if she moved away to a new state, any state, for at least a year, and after that year could honestly say that she loved the cow town enough to move back, then I would believe her. It’s been seven years in the mountains and she will never go back to the cow town.

Ultimately, everyone has a place where they “fit” – that matches their personality and lifestyle. Some are lucky enough to be born in the place that is right for them, while there are those of us who must wander a while to other areas to find the right match. I think it is a bit like dating – there are many nice guys out there, but the girl has to find the “right” nice guy for her. I’m still looking for the right nice state….

So, I am once again taking my own medicine and leaving the state that I’ve called home for so many years. After the ginormous disappointment of not getting the job a couple of weeks ago, hubby was offered a different job last week. We are so excited! It is a good job and fits with our ethics and standards and is in the field that he loves. Our new home will be in Alabama and for hubby, other than his time spent in the military, will be the first time he’s ever lived out of the state of Texas.

 

Alabama is a good compromise for us, though in reality, his new company picked the location and we had no input on the decision. Still, Alabama is good in that it has topography and trees and hiking for me, occasional bits of snow (oh how I miss the seasons!) but not so much snow for hubby that he is miserable. It’s not a place that I’d ever considered moving to before (… the great dreams of Colorado and Maine!) but I think that it will be a place that I am happy in.

Hopefully, Alabama will be a state that I “fit” in. That it will be the “right” nice state and that we’ll get to be there for a while. It is a risk, but with great risk comes great rewards. Who knows, maybe Alabama has been the state of my dreams all along.